It was hard to tell the losers from the winners Friday night at Viking Field.

Vicksburg High found joy in rallying from an imposing early deficit and getting back in the game when it wasn’t playing its best. Warren Central was even happier to fend off the Gators’ charge, and escape with a division victory.

Dee White went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, Jay Harper and Dylan Wooten each drove in a run, and Warren Central hung on for a 6-5 win.

The Vikings wasted most of an early 6-0 lead, but had just enough in the tank to survive. Reliever Colby Key worked out of jams in the fifth and sixth innings, then induced a game-ending double play ball in the seventh.

“It wasn’t an easy one, but it was a good one,” Warren Central coach Josh Abraham said.

Vicksburg coach Jamie Creel was hard-pressed to say the same.

The Gators (4-4) didn’t have a baserunner until the fourth inning, and made two costly errors that helped WC (4-4) to its big lead. Lamar Anthony ran through a stop sign in the fourth inning and was thrown out at the plate, and the Gators left the bases loaded in the fifth despite having the heart of the order up.

With all those mistakes, Creel took solace in the fact that his team was even in the game at all.

“We’re not even supposed to be in a one-run game. We were fortunate to have a chance there at the end. We didn’t do anything right,” Creel said. “The atmosphere choked us up a lot. We grew up a lot tonight and I think it’ll benefit us.”

Warren Central broke through with four runs in the second inning and two more in the third. Harper’s double into the corner in right and White’s two-run gapper to right center sparked the second-inning rally. In the third, Beau Wallace drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and scored on Wooten’s RBI single. Wooten went to third when the ball got past Anthony in center, and he eventually scored on a passed ball to make it 6-0.

That was pretty much it for WC’s offense. A walk to White and a single by substitute Bill McRight were the only baserunners it got after the third inning. Vicksburg pitcher Jacob Thomas retired 12 of the last 14 batters he faced after Wooten’s RBI single.

“We went away from our approach,” Abraham said. “We were still putting aggressive swings on the ball. It just wasn’t jumping off the bat like it was earlier.”

Vicksburg, meanwhile, didn’t do anything offensively in the early going, but got it cranked up late. Harper mowed through the lineup the first time through, striking out four batters in three perfect innings.

That changed in the fourth.

Harper plunked Anthony to start the inning, and Anthony stole second to move into scoring position. Jonathan Clay followed with a grounder to third that resulted in a wild throw. The ball kicked off a railing, though, as Anthony rounded third. Creel threw up a stop sign, but Anthony ran through it and was tagged out at the plate.

The mistake proved costly. Keaton Jones followed with an RBI single to get the Gators on the board, and Cody Waddell drove in two more later in the inning with a two-out single to left center. Waddell’s hit gave the Gators life.

“It would have really gotten us going if we hadn’t run through the stop sign,” Creel said.

Anthony redeemed himself with an RBI double in the fifth that cut it to 6-4. Key relieved Harper with two on and one out and worked out of the jam with a strikeout and a flyout sandwiched around an intentional walk.

Justin Pettway reached on a fielder’s choice and eventually scored on a wild pitch to cut it to 6-5 in the sixth, but the Gators again left the tying run at third. Key walked Jones with one out in the seventh, then got Thomas to hit a comebacker to the mound. Key fielded it, wheeled and threw to Wallace at second, who then fired to first for the game’s final out.

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com